Studying at DMU prepared me for my career, says Director of Pharmacy

One of the top pharmacists in the UK has said how his De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) degree prepared him for success.

Andrew Davies graduated in Pharmacy from what was then Leicester Polytechnic in 1987, and has used the skills and experience he gained from his course to rise to become Director of Pharmacy for North Bristol NHS Trust.

He has a team of 189 pharmacists, technicians and support staff delivering £38 million of drugs to a population of one million patients in North Somerset, South Gloucester and Bristol, crediting Leicester School of Pharmacy for preparing him for his career.

Mr Davies said: “It has given me many opportunities to work with great clinicians, be part of and lead fantastic teams and, most importantly, help provide medicines safely and efficiently for many patients across the country.”

In addition to his ‘day job’, Mr Davies works with the Department of Health on medicines-related data and efficiency and is involved in pharmacy IT nationally.

Although his career has taken him all over the country, it all started in Leicester. Mr Davies said: “It is great to have had so many chances, all originating from an interview with the Head of School two days before term started. Who would have thought I would now be a Fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain!”

After graduating, Mr Davies started work in hospital pharmacy – following his pre-registration year moving into technical services, then dispensary management. He took up his first Deputy Chief Pharmacist role in Hull, East Yorkshire, before moving back to the Midlands to become Chief Pharmacist in Hereford District General Hospital.

“Being my first Chief’s post – and as I met my wife there and still live in Hereford – I have many happy memories of that first senior role,” he said.

“I was then asked to apply to become Chief Pharmacist at a larger trust in Dudley in the West Midlands before then moving South West to Bristol in 2007, where I have been since. In both my past three trusts I also successfully moved into new PFI (private finance initiative) hospitals – perhaps a bit of a theme, as I was part of the team that produced the Department of Health’s Hospital Pharmacy building note and drug storage for wards guidance.”